Christian Marclay

Christian Marclay

Artpace Exhibitions

About Christian Marclay

London and New York-based Christian Marclay was born in 1955 in San Rafael, California and grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied art, eventually moving to the United States to complete his BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art.

The relationship between sound and image is central to Marclay’s work. He often incorporates music and musical instruments and has made sculptures from discarded CDs, melted vinyl records, sewn record covers together to create mixed media works, and created installations featuring musical instruments from museum collections. Performing and recording music is also an integral part of Marclay’s work. Using phonograph records as his “musical instruments,” he mixes altered records on multiple turntables in a display of precise manipulations. He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Canada and the United States and has collaborated with many composers and musicians including Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, and Sonic Youth.

Marclay’s sculptures and installations have been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and The Clocktower/PS 1, New York.